Boys and girls, it’s now cool to don the Batman Keffiyeh…
Portland Teachers Union Wants Kindergarteners To Wear Keffiyehs and ‘Pray for a Truly Free Palestine’
The lesson plan — largely removed following criticism — aims to teach students from Pre-K through high school about Jewish ‘settler-colonial’ oppression
Lesson plans on the Portland teachers’ union website that drew condemnation from Jewish leaders this week — and that the union removed, reposted and then moved to a different, more discreet location online — urged public school students to pray, make posters and write letters to leaders in support of Palestinians.
The optional materials — found through links on the union’s website — include:
- A guide for kids as young as kindergarten that prepares them for what to expect if they attend a protest. The guide, entitled “So You Made It to a Protest!,” lists “signs,” “police,” “ambulances,” “tear gas” and “shutter bombs” among the things “You Might See.”
- A workbook that tells the story of a Palestinian child who is barefoot, wears torn clothing, has messy hair and cries a lot because “(a) group of bullies called Zionists wanted our land so they stole it by force and hurt many people.” The workbook asks students to fill in the blanks of how they can help “free Palestine”: “I will write a letter to _________. I will draw a picture and send it to _________. I will raise funds for the children of Palestine by _________. I will chant this at a Palestine protest _________.”
- An activity book that asks kids to write out a prayer to Allah for Palestinian people.
- An activity pack entitled “Palestine Close to our Hearts” that says it was designed for homeschooled students and shows an image of someone kneeling and praying. The pack encourages students to pray to Allah. “You can raise your hands to the sky and pray for the people of Palestine,” it states. “Pray for them to be safe and pray for them to be happy.”
- A 100-page lesson plan, “Palestine and Settler Colonialism,” that asks students “What are ways you think we can fight for justice for Palestinians? I think we could fight for justice by _______________.”
The plan also tells students the United States gives more than $3 billion each year to Israel to buy weapons to fight Palestinians. “This means American leaders are helping to make settler colonialism happen,” the plan says. “This is not okay.”
It then pictures President Joe Biden and directs students to “(w)rite to a leader and tell them how we could use the money that we send to Israel in a better way.”
The union — the Portland Association of Teachers — cautions educators who might use the materials, which also includes videos and books: “These resources must still be vetted by the educator for their current student population, experience, and community.” The union also has created a color-coded system for the level of caution teachers should exercise before presenting the materials — greenlighting some of them as “good for educators to use and adapt,” while advising that others are OK to “use with a critical eye” or “feature Israeli perspectives.”
It’s unclear if the people or organizations that produced the materials are aware their work is linked to from the union’s website for Portland school teachers to tap as a resource. Some of the materials were created by organizations for religious schools or homeschool students. And some of them only can be accessed by clicking through a few links from the union’s website.
Union President Angela Bonilla couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday or Thursday, but on Tuesday she had told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the union took down the lesson plans and other educational resources earlier in the day after some of the union’s approximately 4,500 members expressed concerns. Bonilla explained that she had mistakenly thought one of the union’s committees had reviewed all of the lesson plans and other resources before they were posted last month. And when she learned the committee hadn’t — and she knew she hadn’t, as well — she said she determined the union must remove the materials while it took time to “pause and review.”
It appears the union finished that review Wednesday morning when it reposted at least some of the lesson plans and other materials by prominently displaying a link to them at the top of its main web page. But hours later — as national news media and commentators began to focus on the tumult in Portland — the lesson plans and other materials were removed from their very visible location and reappeared in a more discreet location on the union’s main web page that couldn’t be found using the website’s search box.
The union also moved its guide entitled “Know Your Rights! Teaching & Instructing for Palestine within Portland Public Schools” to that less visible location. The guide had been featured on the union’s website for more than a week and encouraged teachers to stand by what the union believes are their rights to show their support for Palestinians and educate children about those views.
Many members of Portland’s Jewish community have spoken out in shock and upset, saying the pro-Palestinian materials and the “Know Your Rights” guide are fomenting hate against Jews.
Jewish people already had been experiencing a rising tide of antisemitism. Reports of anti-Jewish hate to Oregon’s Bias Response Hotline increased 13-fold from 2020 to 2023, to more than 450 reports last year.
But reports of anti-Muslim hate also have increased seven-fold from 2020 to 2023, to 100 reports last year.
Both Jews and Muslims in Oregon and across the U.S. say they’ve experienced a surge in hostility since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, when Hamas and other fighters launched a surprise attack by killing more than 1,200 people, many of them Israelis, and took around 250 people, including children, as hostages. Gaza’s Ministry of Health says Israel’s response has resulted in the deaths of more than 36,000 people in the territory, though the ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and fighters.
Bob Horenstein, a spokesperson for the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, said union leadership’s advocacy for Palestinians is giving the entire 4,500-member union “a black eye.”
“Whatever they took down, it’s because they got caught,” Horenstein said. “That doesn’t mean they’re not going to behind the scenes continue to push out this propaganda.”
But in addition to the materials that have been criticized as one-sided and biased, the union also had added links to materials that tell the history of the region and the conflict from multiple perspectives. Those links include four videos produced by National Geographic for sixth through 12th graders.
None of the scores of lesson plans and other educational resources posted to the union’s website appear to be produced by the union. Rather, they were produced by groups such as Woke Kindergarten, the Palestinian Feminist Collective and Jewish Voice for Peace, which describes Israel’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks as a “genocide” on the Palestinian people. The Anti-Defamation League, however, classifies Jewish Voice for Peace as a “radical anti-Israel and anti-Zionist activist group” that doesn’t represent the views of most Jews.
School district policy allows teachers to take on “controversial issues” such as the Israel-Hamas war. But the policy also creates the expectation that teachers will foster the “free exchange of ideas” and offer conflicting points of view. The district reviews violations of the policy on a case-by-case basis.
Portland Public Schools spokesperson Valerie Feder said the union posted the materials to the website without collaborating with the district.
“The curriculum and guide that PAT posted are not approved by PPS,” Feder said.
By Thursday, there were signs that rank-and-file teachers were getting increasingly uncomfortable with the discourse around the pro-Palestinian materials, which arrived on the heels of a divisive teachers’ strike that closed schools for 11 days in November and left some teachers concerned that the eventual contract hadn’t justified the month of upheaval and uncertainty.
Several teachers told The Oregonian/OregonLive that flyers had appeared in their mailboxes calling for a vote of no confidence in Bonilla and other PAT leadership.
“Our union should be a place where we fight for our workplace issues,” the flyer read, according to a photograph shared with the news organization. “Pay increases, smaller class size, health insurance, support with administration, crumbling infrastructure, safe, weapon-free schools, safe sidewalks and routes to school, no camping on school grounds. Our local LABOR union should be focused on us and our WORKPLACE.”
Bonilla was reelected handily to her post in February, after leading the union through the strike, which resulted in a 14.4% cost of living adjustment over the life of the three-year contract.
Principals from around the district have previously told the newspaper that the vast majority of educators on their staff were trying to cover end-of-year core curriculum, not delving into the complex history of conflicts in the Middle East. But particularly at the high school level, students are seeking help to understand the Israel-Hamas war and the deadly impact on Palestinian civilians, they said, and teachers had sought guidance on how to approach their questions.
Super heroes and super villains wearing a keffiyeh in the West Bank
A bunch of super heroes and super villains wearing a keffiyeh, in the West Bank
byu/ariel-malka inmidjourney
A while ago,
Freedom Fighter Tami Erin allegedly also don keffiyeh while filming her own sex tape…
Tami Erin Sex Tape Revisited
Tami Erin (47 y. old), actress who played Pippi Longstocking in 1988, has a fully nude photoshoot on a beach in the same theme (full photoshoot in the comments)
byu/Key_Form9776 inCelebsOver40nsfw
Tami Erin is an American actress and model from Wheaton, Illinois. She is best known for her portrayal of Pippi Longstocking in the 1988 Columbia Pictures film The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking.
Click image to enlarge
If she was shy before, she sure as hell ain’t now — Tami Erin (who starred in the 1988 Pippi Longstocking movie) has gone full-on Vegas stripper after her sex tape hit the market … and she’s even making out with one of Tiger Woods‘ ex-mistresses.
The pics were snapped at a Halloween party she hosted over the weekend at Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club — surprise — and the ex-mistress on the receiving end of her smooches is porn star Joslyn James … aka Tiger mistress #11.
We’re told Tami wasn’t originally supposed to strip — she was just hired to host the party — but when she took the stage to thank the crowd … she got into the stripping mood real quick … people even tipped her. (No lap dances though.)
It’s pretty funny, considering Tami was so coy about her sex tape in the beginning. You’ll recall she initially tried to block the release of the tape (or so she claims) but then changed her mind … big time, apparently.
Elizabeth Taylor Said, ‘There Is No Gay Agenda. It’s a Human Agenda’